Kris Furillo
by allieisrandom
Summary: How did Kris end up becoming who she was and why? Most of this fic takes place in the past before the series started. Please read and review!
1. How Mommy Is Feeling

2008-Freemont California

A whole day spent walking along the highway slowly. Fingers numbly struggling to clutch the handle of her suitcase. Her legs, feet, and back were sore. But being a horseback rider who had broken her limbs a few times and had landed in the dirt more than a few times, her body could take it. It was her mind that was really aching. The feeling of having lost someone forever...was the worst feeling in the world.

_Which I already knew_, Kris thought to herself. _Why was I stupid enough to think I could have a family? Jace was right. When it comes down to it...in a real crisis, all we will ever really have is our own flesh and blood._

But right now, she was having a real crisis, and her own flesh and blood was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

><p>1992-Oklahoma City<p>

Four-year-old Kristine Amber Furillo shot up in her bed, eyes suddenly wide open. She saw the light under the door and started to shake, crawling back under the covers. Mommy had promised her that the theives weren't going to come back again-after all, what was there in that shitty old apartment worth stealing anyway-but it sounded like there were.

"Billie Jean is not my looover...she's just a girl who thinks that IIIIIIIIIII am the one...but the kiiiiiiiid is not my son..."

Kris tenatively peeled back the blanket that was in front of her face. Was that Mommy's voice? That sure sounded like Mommy's voice. But why was it so high and shrill?

"Come on, Barb. Sit down. I'll get you something to eat."

"She says IIIIIII am the one..."

"I mean, it Barb. Lay down. You're gonna wake up Kristine."

Kris sighed with relief, jumped out of bed, and ran out into the hallway. "Daddy!" she cried.

The minute her father, Juan Furillo, laid eyes on her, his face grew angry. "Dammit, Barb! Keep it down!"

"Kristine! Hey baby girl! Guess what?"

Kris was startled when she saw her mother, Barbara McCormick, laying there on the couch. She looked like she had bed hair, but she wasn't in bed and didn't look a bit tired. And plus, she had a really big smile on her face. Even bigger than when she was eating chocolate or playing candyland.

"Mommy? Did the wind mess up your hair?" said Kris.

"YES!" shrieked Barb happily. "I loooove messy hair! And I love wind! And I love youuuuuu!"

Kris looked utterly perplexed now. "Kristine, honey, your mommy just..." Juan tightened his jaw a moment. "Don't worry about her. I'll take care of her. You just go back to bed."

"Daddy, what's going ON?" demanded Kris, stomping one of her feet on the shaggy carpet. "What have you done to my MOMMY?"

"Nothing," said Juan. He got down on his knees, putting himself on his daughter's level. "Let me explain." Kris nodded, her eyes still wide with confusing. "You know how sometimes something kind of sad happens to you and you're feeling low?"

"Like when I dropped my birthday ice cream and we couldn't afford to buy a new one?" said Kris. Juan nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, right now, your mommy is feeling high," said Juan. "That's the opposite of low. She's just really, really happy right now."

"But why is she so happy?" said Kris.

Juan sighed. He was hoping that she wouldn't ask that. "Because...she went to a party and she had a good time."

"A birthday party?" said Kris.

"No, a grown-up party where people dance together," said Juan. "Your mommy really likes that. It makes her happy."

"Oh, okay," said Kris. But it wasn't okay, and she knew it. Kris did not get a wink of sleep that night.


	2. Where Daddy Lives

After that Kris began to notice when her mommy was feeling high. It was strange and a little scary. The one good thing about it was that her daddy usually came over unless he was already there. In fact, that was one of the only times he ever did.

"Come tomorrow too, please!" Barbara begged. "I want you here when the mail comes You know why."

"I wish I could, Barb, but Adriana is going to kill me if I can't have dinner with her at Mario's," said Juan. "Those reservations took her six months to get!"

There were lots of people who Barb hated: she hated bill collectors, she hated the IRS, she hated the lady who she had to pay rent to, and she hated her sister Edith for never sending money when they needed it the most. But there was no one in the world who she hated more than Adriana Furillo. "She has, everything, Kristine!" snapped Barbara as she vigorously brushed Kris's teeth at bedtime. "She gets to live in his house, she gets the money, she gets her name on his insurance plan, she gets to sleep with him at night, and what do we get? A few pennies and this crummy little apartment!"

Kris turned her head to the sink and spit. "Why does Daddy have to live with her, anyway?"

"Why don't you ask _him_ that?" snapped Barb.

She did, the very next day. "Daddy, why do you have to live with Adriana and not us?"

"Come over here, Kris," said Juan. Kris skipped over to where he was sitting on the couch. He held out his left hand. "You see that little ring on my finger?"

"Yeah?" said Kris.

Juan pulled it off. "Look on the inside."

Kris peered in. On the inside, tiny letters said, "Adriana 1980."

Juan slipped the ring back onto his finger. "That's why I have to live with her."

Later, Kris asked Barb, "Who put that little gold ring on Daddy's finger, Mommy?"

"Adriana did," said Barb bitterly.

It was then that little Kris began to develop a resentment and loathing for this mysterious woman who she knew only by name and by the fact that she had managed to brand and tame her beloved Daddy, keeping him away from her and her mother every chance she got. "No way am I ever letting someone put a ring on my finger like that," she told herself.


	3. A New Friend

"I wanna go to the park, Mommy!" whined Kris.

"No!" snapped Barb. "I need to finish these bills in a minute! Why don't you go read?"

"We only have one book!" whined Kris. "And I'm sick of it! Why don't the three little pigs just get a mobile home and then the wolf would never catch them?"

"The wolf always catches up eventually," said Barb. "That's life. It doesn't really matter what kind of home you have."

Just then, Barb's phone rang. "Yes, Juan? I'm in the middle of doing these bills, and I could _really_ use you right now. You will? Really, honey? Oh. Uh huh. Yes. Yeah. So does this mean you can't go out with her?" asked Barb excitedly. "Oh. Juan, no offense, but are you insane? You're the one who always says that a young child can hold a secret like a leaky boat can hold water. Of course I wouldn't tell him anything, but how am I going to keep Kristine from blurting out that you're her...hmmm, yeah...I guess...I mean, I could try...just this once...but you _promise _that you'll take care of these bills for me? Okay. Love you too, Juan. Bye." Barb hung up the phone. "Well, Kristine," she said with a smile. "It looks like you're getting a new friend."

Kris's eyes lit up. "Will she play with me?"

"It's a he," said Barb. "His name is Jace, and he's five years older than you. Daddy will drop him off here on his way out to dinner with Adriana. After he does, I will take you and Jace to the park to play." Kris jumped up and squealed with excitement. "But only if you promise me one thing."

"Oh, anything Mommy!" said Kris.

Barb smiled. "Okay. Whenever Jace is over, you can't talk about Daddy. At all."

Kris's eyes widened. This was such a weird request that she didn't know how to express how strange it was to her. "Okay," she finally said.

"That's my girl," said Barb.

Fifteen minutes later, Juan arrived with Jace. "Thanks, Barb, you're a lifesaver. Like I said, if the nanny hadn't had called in sick at the last minute, I never would have asked you to..."

"...it's no problem," said Barb, quickly glancing at Kris to make sure that she wasn't paying too much attention. "Where's the little man now?"

"Right here," said Juan. "Jace, this is my friend Barb that I told you about."

"Hi, Barb," said Jace, stepping into the house. Kris's head shot up instantly, and her eyes widened with shock. She wanted to exclaim, "Daddy, my new friend Jace looks just like you!" But then she remembered she wasn't allowed to mention Daddy. Was she even allowed to go near Daddy? She wasn't sure, so she didn't budge.

"Jace, this is my daughter Kristine," said Barb.

"Hey," said Jace. He walked over to Kris. "My...Mr. Furillo says that you like playing hide and seek."

"I do," said Kris. "Want to play now? I'll count."

"Sure," said Jace. "But good luck ever finding me, Kristine!"

Kris made a face. "You can call me Kris."

"Sure," said Jace. "I like that better anyway."

"I do too," said Kris. She covered her brown eyes partway and began counting."One, two, three..."

For the rest of the night, Kris and Jace played together. At the park they played tag and hide and seek, had contests to see who could swing higher, had races on the monkey bars, and made mud pies in the shape of ailen monster faces. In the apartment they watched their favorite shows together. They got along surprisingly well for a boy and a girl of their ages who had never met before. In fact, neither of them wanted Jace to leave when Juan came by to pick him up. Juan and Barb both promised the childfren that they could play together again soon. Kris went to sleep very happy and content that night, loving but still unsure of this uncanny connection she had with her new friend whom until today she had never even seen before.


	4. Fifth Birthday

"How could you do that? Are you crazy, Juan?"

"No, I'm not crazy!" he said. "I knew you could handle it!"

"Yeah, but without even warning me?"

Kris stepped tenatively into the kitchen. "Is everything okay?" she asked.

Barb whipped around. "No! It's _not_! Your _father_ decided that it would be okay to send _Adriana_ over to pick up Jace after only the fifth time he's ever been here..."

"Leave Kristine out of this!" Juan interjected.

"And that's another thing," said Barb. "What if she'd seen Kristine? You think it's really that hard to tell where she got those big brown eyes from?"

"I knew she wouldn't," said Juan. "Kristine always takes her nap from two thirty to four."

"But what if I'd let her skip it that day?" said Barb. "Huh?"

"You never let her skip it!" said Juan.

"How would you know?" said Barb. "You're hardly even _here_!"

Kris started to notice that her Mommy was acting strangely...sort of like she did when she was high, only angry instead if happy. She walked back into her bedroom and closed the door.

Later, when it was quiet again, Kris came out of her room. She saw her Mommy laying on the couch looking sick, eyes closed. Juan was holding her hand and stroking her arm. "It's gonna be okay, honey," he whispered. "I promise."

"Does she have a fever?" asked Kris.

Juan turned around and smiled. "No. She's just not feeling well."

Kris nodded but didn't move.

"So, Kristine," said Juan. "You're turning five soon, aren't you?" Kris beamed and nodded again. "What do you think you want to do for your birthday this year?"

"Play with Jace?" said Kris hopefully.

Juan smiled. "You play with him all the time! I was thinking we could do something special this year. Go to the carnival, maybe?"

"Sure!" said Kris. "You, me, Mommy, and Jace!"

Juan's face went blank. "Kristine, I don't think that's possible."

"Why not?" asked Kris. "He'd like it!"

"We can't really all go out in public together, sweetie," said Juan.

"Why not?" Kris demanded.

"Because...well, there would be too many of us in one place," said Juan.

Kris's face fell. "Oh."

"But maybe you and your Mom and Jace could go to the carnival without me," said Juan. A woman taking her daughter and her daughter's playmate out for the day seemed harmless enough.

Kris considered it for a moment. "I want you _and_ Jace. Can't Mommy be the one to stay home?"

"No," said Juan a bit too quickly. He wished that he could, but being out with two brown eyed kids, one from his wife, one clearly biracial, and both calling him Daddy, would be a dead giveaway. "I'm sorry. Maybe we can all have a picnic together instead."

"At the park?" said Kris.

"No," said Juan. "In the livingroom. But it would be all four of us together."

"Okay," said Kris, satisfied.

Barb made everyone ham sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies for the picnic. Kris and Jace laughed and played with Juan after they were done eating, tackling him down onto the blanket. It occured to him that this was the first time he'd really ever been able to play with both of his kids at the same time. "I have an idea," said Barb after just a few minutes. "Why don't you two go down to the park all by yourselves?"

Three heads shot up. Barb raised her eyebrows meaningfully at Juan. "Sure," he said. "Jace, you're in charge."

"Be sure to hold hands when you cross the street," said Barb. The two children scampered outside and, Barb had the top button of her shirt undone before the door had even closed behind them.

"You've really _never_ prank-called someone before?" said Jace.

"No," said Kris. "What's that?"

Jace grinned. "I'm gonna teach you how." He grabbed Kris by the arm and pulled her into the nearest phone booth.

"Who are we calling?" asked Kris.

"Who cares?" replied Jace. He put two coins into the coin slot and punched a random number into the phone. "Hello, ma'am. Is your refrigerator running?" He paused. "Then you'd better catch it before it gets away!" He hung up the phone, and Kris burst into giggles. "Here's another good one," said Jace. He dialed another number. "Hi, this is the Atlanta Pig Farm, I was just calling to confirm that you've recieved the order of piglets that we shipped to your house. If you don't have it by now, you should get it within a few hours. You did, too! I have a piece of paper right here confirming that you ordered two litters for four thousand dollars." Then he hung up the phone. Both children started laughing hysterically. "If you ever want to make prank calls, you should look for quarters on the sidewalk for the phone booth," Jace instructed. "Whenever I try using the phone at my house to prank call people, my Mama gets all mad, and my..." he stopped.

"What's wrong?" asked Kris.

"Sorry," said Jace. "I'm not allowed to talk about my father while I'm around you."

"I'm not allowed to talk about my father while I'm around you either," said Kris.

Jace shrugged. "Okay." He pulled another quarter out of his pocket and dialed another number.


	5. The Best Day

Kris and Jace stood in the doorway to Barb's bedroom, completely dumbfounded.

"Kristine!" screeched Barb.

"Jace!" shouted Juan.

"What the hell are you two doing here?" Barb demanded. "We thought you were asleep!"

"We heard a noise," said Jace. "What are _you_ two doing?"

"Having a pillow fight, what does it look like we're doing?" demanded Barb.

Kris looked up and blinked. "With your _clothes off_?"

"_Yeah_, honey," said Barb.

"Well, not exactly," said Juan.

"JUAN!" screamed Barb.

"Calm down!" said Juan, putting his hand on Barb's shoulder. "This isn't what it looks like!" he said, then he realized that neither Kris or Jace had any idea what they were looking at. "You'll understand when you're older. This is just how grown-ups play in bed. Now both of you, go get some sleep. We're going to sleep in a minute, too."

Kris and Jace closed the door to the bedroom and made their way back into Kris's bedroom. Jace quietly sat down on top of his sleeping bag. Kris crawled into her bed. "That was weird," she mumbled.

"That was _wrong_," said Jace. "I think."

"What do you mean "wrong"?" asked Kris.

"I don't think that Mama would like to see Daddy..." Jace quickly covered his mouth. "I mean, Mr. Furillo, doing that with your Mom. I don't know, it just seems wrong to me."

Kris's brown eyes widened. "He's your daddy, too?" then she quickly covered her mouth.

Jace looked up at her in shock. "Wait...what?"

"How is that even possible?" asked Kris. "My mommy isn't your mommy!"

"I know!" said Jace. "That's why Daddy is over here so much! He has two families, two whole families, at the same time."

Both children sat there in silence for a while, Kris completely unable to grasp this new revalation, Jace able to grasp just enough of it to make his head spin. "Hey, Kris?" Jace finally said.

"Yeah?" said Kris.

"Do you know what this means?" asked Jace.

"What?" asked Kris.

Jace gave her a small smile. "I'm your big brother."

"I am?" said Kris. A slow grin spread across her face. "I am! Oh boy, I can't wait to tell Mommy!"

* * *

><p>The next morning, the two children woke up to the sound of Barb and Juan fighting. "That was your fault, bitch!" he shouted. "You're the one who insisted that we come to this shitty little apartment!"<p>

"You're the one who keeps us in this shitty little apartment!" snapped Barb.

"I've already got a family of my own to feed, how much do you think I can afford?" snapped Juan.

"A family of your own? Now suddenly Kristine and I aren't your family?"

"You know what I mean!" yelled Juan, louder than ever.

Kris looked to Jace in his sleeping bag. "I'm scared," she whispered. Jace didn't say anything. He was still trying to wrap his head around what they'd figured out the night before.

"If we had been in the house, this never would have happened!" yelled Juan. "I'm taking Jace home after breakfast. The whole point of this entire thing was for us to spend some time together alone while Adriana's out of town, and obviously we're not going to get any alone time crammed into this boardbox with the kids."

Barb sighed. "I'm sorry. I just...I just couldn't do it."

"What?" said Juan. "Were you scared that you'd get jealous of my wife's house? Is that it? Honestly, Barb. I expected more from you."

"No!" said Barb. "Believe me, I don't have to see that house to be jealous of it. It's just that doing it here is one thing, but you and me, in your _marriage bed_? Just...no!"

"You think _that_ was my plan?" said Juan. "We have a guest bed, duh!"

Barb froze. "Oh. _Oh_..." She and Juan smiled at each other then, knowing that everything would be fine now that their little misunderstanding was cleared up.

"Hey, kids," said Barb, pushing the door to Kris's bedroom opened. "We just had an idea. How about the two of you have another sleepover here, only this time, all by yourselves?"

Kris and Jace looked at each other. Neither one of them was sure they liked that idea.

"Come on," said Juan. "I'll go out and get you two a tub of ice cream. You can share it!"

Both children's eyes grew big. "As much as we want?" said Kris.

"As much as you want," Barb promised.

"Okay!" said Jace.

"Yeah!" said Kris.

Barb made breakfast for the kids while Juan went out and brought some ice cream. "Try not to eat so much of this ice cream that you feel sick okay?" he said. The kids nodded blankly. "Whatever you do, don't turn the stove on, get in the bathtub, take any knives out of the drawer, leave the house, answer the phone, or answer the door."

"Can we make calls on the phone though?" asked Kris.

"Of course," said Juan. "I'll leave a number that we can be reached at just in case you need anything."

"Hurry up, Juan!" said Barb impatiently.

"Don't worry, I'm hurrying!" said Juan. He quickly scratched down the number and left.

As soon as the front door was shut, Kris and Jace looked at each other and grinned. He pulled out the phone book, she picked up the phone.

"You're getting better at this!" said Jace. "But you gotta work on the southern accent when you pick up.'

"Okay," said Kris. "Hello, this is the Atlanta Pig Farm calling..."

Both kids burst into giggles before she could finish her sentence.

"Hey, look!" said Jace. "It's almost lunchtime! And you know what that means!"

"Ice cream time!" said Kris.

"I'll go get the ice cream, you find something good on the TV," said Jace.

Kris turned on the TV and started flipping through the channels. "Berenstein Bears is on," she said.

"No way, that's for little kids!" said Jace. "Go to channel 56."

Kris did. Then her eyes widened. "What's this?"

"Spiderman," said Jace. "He's really cool. Just watch."

And that's how they spent the rest of the day, flopped out on the couch in front of the TV with a quart of ice cream, two spoons, and constand brain-freeze.

"I don't feel very good, Jace," whined Kris.

"Me neither," he said. "Let's eat some more ice cream and see if that helps."

"Okay," said Kris.

It didn't.

Later that night, the quart of ice cream was gone, and neither one of the kids felt like moving at all. They stayed as they were on the couch, too sick to even fall asleep.

When they finally heard the sound of the key turning in the lock, Jace sat up, and Kris sighed with relief. "Daddy?" said Jace.

"Mommy?" whined Kris weakly.

It was neither.

"Mama!" said Jace. "You're back early!"

Kris's head shot up, but she stayed where she was lying on the couch.

"Jace," said the female voice. "Get in the car. _Now_."

"Okay," said Jace, pulling himself up off of the couch and dragging himself out the door, too sick to even remember to say goodbye to Kris. Kris vaguely heard the sound of two sets of footsteps.

"_You_," said the same female voice icily. "We need to talk."

"Adriana, please," said Juan pleadingly.

Kris shot up into a sitting position and pulled herself up so she was looking over the back of the couch. There she was, the one stranger who she had ever grown to hate, standing right here in their apartment! She felt like she should do something about it but didn't know what.

"Juan, stay out of this!" shouted Adriana, causing everyone in the room, including Kris, to shrink a little. "I'll talk to you later. Right now this is between me and your...whatever she is."

Barb blinked her eyes innocently. "I'm sorry, I told you, it was only one night. We didn't even plan it, I just came by to pick up my paycheck from watching Jace. It just...happened."

"Only once," said Adriana. "Are you sure?"

"I swear," said Barb. "And never again."

"She's right," said Juan.

Adriana turned her furious eyes on Juan. "Shut up!" she shouted. Then she turned back to Barb. "I hope you understand that that one night is all that you will _ever_ have from him. You see _this_?" Adriana held up her left hand in Barb's face, Kris saw that she was wearing a little gold ring just like Juan's. "This is a symbol of lifelong commitment, of a deep and abiding love and friendship. You'll never have that from him."

Barb looked a little hurt now. "I know," she whispered.

Adriana eyed her suspiciously. "This is more than just a one night stand. Isn't it?" Barb didn't say anything. "You're in love with my husband, aren't you? _Aren't you?_ Are you _sure_ that you only slept with him this one time?" demanded Adriana.

"Yes, whispered Barb. "Of course."

Adriana continued to eye her suspiciously. "Juan," she said. "Go get in the car with Jace."

That's when Kris remembered what she had wanted to tell her mother earlier. "Mommy, guess what?" she cried weakly.

All eyes were on Kris in an instant. Barb's face turned pale. "Kristine," said Barb. "What are you still doing up? Please go get into bed now."

"I just have one thing to tell you first," said Kris. She grinned. "Jace is my brother!"

Everyone froze. Adriana's breathing slowed, and her heartbeat quickened. "Oh my god," she whispered. "Oh my god." She turned to Kris. "Honey, how old are you?"

Proudly, Kris held up five fingers.

Adriana closed her eyes. "Juan," she said. "I want you and all your crap out of the house by tomorrow morning. Forever." Then without so much as a second look at anyone in the room, she walked outside. Juan followed quietly.

As soon as she heard the sound of the car driving off, Barb pumped her fist in the air and screamed, "_Yes_!" Kris raised her eyebrows. "Honey, do you know what this means?" asked Barb. "Adriana just kicked your daddy out of her house. This means that he has to move in with us!"

Kris's eyes lit up. "Really?" she said. "This is the best day of my life!"

"Mine too, baby, mine too!" said Barb, picking up the little girl in her arms and smothering her with kisses. "After tomorrow, everything will be perfect. We won't have to live in this apartment anymore, we'll never be poor again, and I'll finally be able to stop getting high." Kris just threw her arms around her mother and began to cry with happiness. "I love you, Mommy!"

"I love you too, baby," whispered Barb.

It would be fifteen years before Jace would recieve a phone call from Juan. Adriana, Barb, and Kris never saw him or heard from him again.


	6. What's Important

**1993-Oklahoma City**

Kris Furillo shuffled across the floor of the apartment, the cold linoleum stinging her bare feet. There was Barb, passed out on the couch mumbling something about playing hopscotch on the moon with giant flamingos with tears running down her face. Frightened, Kris looked around the apartment. No one was there. No one but her. Quietly she walked over to Barb and took her mother's hand in her own. She had never felt more terrified in her life as she stroked the white cold flesh of her mother's arm, just like Juan used to. "Mommy?" she whispered.

"Yeah Kristine?" mumbled Barb.

"Why did Daddy leave us?" asked Kris.

Barb groaned. "Because Adriana scared him away," she whispered.

Kris stayed there until and after Barb fell asleep, trying to make her mother's tears go away while ignoring the futile ones burning in her own eyes.

* * *

><p>Six-year-old Kris climbed down off the school bus and slowly made her way up to their apartment. It was exactly one year now since the last time that she saw her Daddy. She could no longer picture his face the way that she could even a few months ago. His fading image haunted her every day.<p>

As soon as she made her way up to the apartment, Kris dialed the number for the Furillo house and was relieved when a young male voice answered the phone. "Hello, is your refrigerator running?" she said.

Jace laughed halfheartedly. "Kris, you know I know it's you."

"You know what day it is, don't you?" said Kris.

"Yeah," said Jace. "Mama is pretty sad. I heard her telling one of her friends that it's been a whole year since her world fell apart now."

Kris didn't say anything for a moment. As far as she and Barb were concerned, Adriana was a monster, a big, fat, ugly, scary monster. She didn't even like to think about her connection to Jace.

"Mommy doesn't even care about him," Kris finally said tearfully. "This morning I said, "Mommy, it's been a whole year since we saw Daddy now," and she said, "Wow, I can't believe it's been a whole year since I could actually afford to pay the heating bill and the water bill at the same time"."

"That's all she cares about?" said Jace. "Why am I not surprised?"

Kris wasn't sure what to say to that. There was a brief pause. "How's school going?" asked Jace.

"I hate it," said Kris. "I mean, recess and lunch are alright, but math and reading are hard and handwriting is _horrible_!"

"But handwriting is the most important thing you learn!" said Jace. "Reading is kind of important too, because otherwise you won't be able to read labels and signs and stuff and you'll never know where you're going. Anything they try to teach you in math you can ignore though, because that's just useless. Trust me."

"Okay," said Kris, as always, taking her big brother's advice. "But why is handwriting so important?"

"I'll show you next time I come over," said Jace.

"Okay," said Kris again. "Can you come now?"

"Where's your Mom?" asked Jace.

"Still at work," said Kris.

"I'll be right there," said Jace.

"Okay," said Kris. She hung up the phone and her backpack and grabbed an apple from the kitchen to munch on while she was waiting for her brother. Whenever Jace wanted to play with her, he always asked her if her Mommy was at home or not before he came over. It was no secret that Jace felt the same way about Barb that Kris felt about Adriana. Not that he and Kris ever talked about it. They loved each other too much to risk getting into a fight about something so big.

When Jace got there, he and Kris laid around watching TV for a while just like they usually did, made a few prank calls, and then gorged on some store-bought cookies Barb had left in the pantry.

"I miss him, Jace," Kris confessed. "Before he left, Mommy _never_ left me alone in the house, now I'm alone all the time when I'm not at school."

"Mama actually spends more time with me now than she did before he left," said Jace. "But she also spends a lot of time crying."

"Mommy never spends _any_ time with me," Kris insisted. "All she does is make breakfast in the morning, give me my lunch money, and then drop me off at school on the way to work, and I don't see her in the afternoon or the evening unless I'm awake late enough to hear her come home from work. And sometimes on weekends she gets all high and I have to take care of her."

"High?" said Jace. "What's that?"

"You know…" Kris struggled to find the words to explain it. "All happy and crazy-like."

"I see," said Jace, although he didn't understand at all.

There was a pause. "Hey," said Kris. "You never told me why handwriting is important."

"Oh yeah," said Jace. "It's so that you can write notes and have people think you're a grown up. Like this." He pulled out a piece of paper and a pen and wrote:

Ms. Mansfield,  
>Would you please give Jace permission to be two days late on his homework assignment? He was ill this past week and spent the night in the hospital, so he was unable to finish it.<br>Yours truly,  
>Adriana Furillo<p>

Kris's eyes grew wide. "You were in the hospital? When?"

Jace grinned. "I wasn't. That's the point."

It took Kris a moment to catch on. "_Ohh._" A slow grin spread across her face. "Did you actually turn in this note?"

"Yeah, but I eventually got caught," Jace admitted. "My handwriting looks grown-up enough, but I can never get the signature quite right."

"What's that?" asked Kris.

"A signature?" said Jace. "It's the way grown-ups write their names. And it's really hard to copy. My mom's signature kind of looks like this…" He wrote down his mother's name. "…and the way I copy it looks like this." Jace saw that the two signatures looked identical and frowned. "Actually, let me show you with _your_ Mom's signature, if it's written down anywhere."

"Okay," said Kris. She went and found one a copy of a receipt Barb had signed.

"See," said Jace. "When _I_ try to write her signature it looks like…this."

Kris blinked. "Yeah?"

Kris and Jace starred down at the two signatures. They were interchangeable. Jace's forgery looked exactly like what Barb had written down.

Jace turned to Kris and grinned. "Okay, _now_ we're talking!"


End file.
